A sailor who fell from a supply vessel in the Pacific Ocean at 4 am spent more than 14 hours clutching an old fishing float before being rescued.
Alone in the middle of the ocean, and without a life jacket, at dawn he chose to swim towards a black spot on the horizon, a decision that would end up saving his life.
Vidam Perevertilov, the chief engineer aboard the Silver Supporter, was towed back to deck almost a full day after falling into the sea on February 16, when his freighter made a supply between New Zealand’s Tauranga port on the Island the north of the country, and the isolated British territory of Pitcairn.
He later told his son that he was feeling dizzy after finishing the night shift in the engine room and went out on deck to recover before falling.
“He doesn’t remember falling overboard. He may have passed out, ”Perevetilov’s son Marat told New Zealand’s Stuff.
Perevetilov remembers having gained consciousness when he saw his ship leaving for the darkness. The crew did not notice that he was missing for six hours.
The ship issued a radio distress call and French Navy aircraft joined the search in Polynesia, while the French meteorological service examined winds and currents to determine likely drift patterns.
The onboard crew was able to determine that Perevertilov was on board at 4 am because he had filed a registration report at that time. At the time it went to sea, the Silver Supporter was about 400 nautical miles south of the Southern Islands further south in French Polynesia.
In the middle of the ocean, with his ship out of sight on the horizon, Perevertilov, 52, made a decision at dawn that – in the final analysis – would save his life.
He saw a black spot on the horizon and, without knowing what it was, swam towards it.
“His will to survive was strong, but he told me until the sun came up that he was struggling to stay afloat,” Marat told Stuff Lithuania.
The point on the horizon turned out to be an abandoned fishing float. Perevertilov clung to him until he was found around 6 pm His ship was in a definite search pattern when a crew member heard a weak voice and a watchman saw a hand raised from the ocean.
Perevertilov was taken out of the water exhausted, but unhurt.
Vidam Perevertilov fell into the sea about 400 nautical miles south of the Southern Islands. He was rescued after 14 hours, clinging to an old fishing float.
British High Commissioner in New Zealand Laura Clarke, who also serves as governor of Pitcairn Island, told the New Zealand Herald that everyone was “extremely relieved” to learn of the rescue.
“We all feared the worst, given the scale of the Pacific Ocean and its strong currents,” she said.
“So the fact that Silver Supporter found him and he survived is just incredible: a story of survival that even Captain Bligh … would have applauded.”
William Bligh was launched adrift by mutineers on his ship Bounty 1789, and successfully sailed more than 6,000 km on a speedboat open to the island of Timor, then called the Dutch East Indies.
The mutineers would become the first inhabitants of Pitcairn Island, and their descendants still live there. The remote volcanic island remains British territory.
Perevetilov’s son, Marat, told Stuff, his father had left the fishing float in the sea, instead of taking it as a souvenir.
“It’s funny. He said he wanted to leave it there, so he could save someone else’s life.”